Review: The 9th Asia Pacific Bonsai and Suiseki Convention and ExhibitionText and Photos By Budi Sulistyo (Chief of operation)

At the Inna Grand Bali Beach Hotel in Sanur, Bali from the first to the fourth of September 2007, the 9th Asia Pacific Bonsai and Suiseki Exhibition and Convention (commonly called 'ASPAC 9') was held.

The Indonesian Bonsai Society (the only bonsai organization in Indonesia which has 61 chapters countrywide) and the Indonesian Suiseki Association (the only suiseki organization in Indonesia which has14 chapters countrywide) worked together to hold the event. M. Paiman was the appointed Chairman, taking responsibility on all issues; I also helped the Indonesian team who organized all the activities.

ASPAC, the first and largest convention to exhibited both bonsai and suiseki, has been held every two years since the first in1991 at Nusa Dua, Bali. Indonesia is the founder of this non-formal convention that came to be loved and well accepted by many bonsai and suiseki lovers all over the world. It later was held in Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Taipei, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Beijing, and then came back to Bali again.

The first ASPAC had the theme 'Friendship through Bonsai' but now 'Peace, Friendship and Culture' is used as the symbol of the Convention. The world right now is crying for peace and friendship and through the Balinese strong culture, we really expect that all bonsai and suiseki friends from around the world would be able to achieve friendship and peace. Bali was purposely chosen due to its fame as a tourist destination and because it is world famous for the old traditional cultures and Hinduism religions practiced by many of the people there. Bali has been shaken by bomb blasts twice in the past by low morality people that wanted to create chaos on the beautiful island. Yet, we all believed that the charm of bonsai and suiseki with the peaceful spirit of the lovers would be able to return the 'gods' island into its previous glory.

More than 450 people, 212 from abroad and the rest from Indonesia came to join the convention. Thousands of people from several areas of Indonesia, watched the exhibitions and bazaars in the venue. China, including Macau and Hong Kong, were the biggest delegations followed closely by Taiwan. Other Asian countries represented were India, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam; where as the white Asia was represented by friends from Australia. Bonsai and suiseki friends represented Europe from Germany, France, Netherlands and United Kingdom, followed by friends from South Africa as far away as the United States and Puerto Rico.

Three hundred and twelve selected bonsai from various regions of Indonesia and three hundred and ten suiseki, mostly from Indonesia and some 40 pieces from abroad were displayed in the exhibition hall. The bonsai were selected to find the best 30, the best in show and the best in sizes. The judges are William Valavanis from USA, Mick Sherman from UK, Shinichi Nakajima from Japan, Lo Minhsuan and Cheng Cheng Kung from Taiwan, Wei Jing Seng and Qingquan Zhao from China and Jose Luis Rodrigues from Puerto Rico. Of the 310 suiseki, 24 were nominated as the best.. The suiseki judges were Willi Benz from Germany, Seah Kang Chui from Singapore, Tan Weng Wah from Malaysia and Arisige Matsuura from Japan.

The history of bonsai in Indonesia is not lengthy. It started only around 1970's. However, the tropical archipelagoes with more than 17000 islands provide us with various unique trees and species that speed up the growth of bonsai in Indonesia. The country that located in the ring of fire provides us with various stones all over the countries, serving as the hunting grounds for suiseki lovers in Indonesia.

The foreign bonsai demonstrators were: William Valavanis from USA, Mick Sherman from UK, Jose Luis Rodriguez from Puerto Rico, Minhsuan Lo and Chengkung Cheng from Taiwan, Qingquan Zhao from China and Shinichi Nakajima from Japan. They worked together with the Indonesian counterparts. In Suiseki Arisige Matsuura-san from Japan, Willie Benz from Germany, Jia Xangyun and Zhong Changhai from China gave lectures.
Near the beach, there were bazaars that sold bonsai, bonsai materials, suiseki, bonsai tools and exotic plants. An 'Adenium' or dwarf bromelia exhibition was displayed next to the bazaar area.

The Governor of Bali hosted the welcome dinner in the old Balinese palace. We were entertained with classic Balinese dancers. It was a real interesting event. Solita Rosade from WBFF even said that it was something that usually only seen in movies. The next day, there was a tour to Tanah Lot, a famous 'Pura' by the sea followed by enjoying the sunset and dinner. It is said that people would could not claim to have ever been to Bali unless they visiting the beautiful Tanah Lot.

In the convention meeting attended by the leaders of bonsai and suiseki from attended countries, China and Taiwan both bid for the next convention. Both countries made good presentations and interesting offer. In the end with M. Paiman as the mediator, a compromise was achieved that Taiwan will host the next ASPAC.

WBFF informal meeting chaired by Solita Rosade and attended by the vice president, Mr. Iwasaki from Japan, it was held on the last day and was attended by leaders of bonsai and suiseki from all the attended countries. WBFF was really had a good opportunity to unite all bonsai and suiseki lovers around the world to sit together and report on the conditions of each country.

The ASPAC 9 ended with a warm garden party. The Kecak dance that involved 75 people on the stage was said to be very impressive for foreigners. Dancing together on the stages brought an end beautiful memory of the 9th ASPAC.

A beautiful album on bonsai and suiseki was published and distributed to each participant. The hard cover album consists of 222 pages of beautiful bonsai and suiseki that mostly from Indonesia with some contributions from Philippines, India, South Korea and Australia.

I realy like the picture with the dragon-jin bonsai. (Bonsai bazzar) I once read the Indonesians were masters in creating beautiful dragons out of the deadwood parts of a bonsai. In this magazine was only one picture published in B&W as an example, but it looked great anyway. The creator made the deadwood look like a dragon crawling out of the pot, with very much detail.

I haven't found other examples of dragon-jin bonsai on the internet. Maybe you have some more pictures about these dragon-trees? Or a photographic sequence how they make this beautiful carving art?
Thanks for sharing these beautiful pictures...

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